My Perfect Automobile » Camry

Toyota Camry is Top Hybrid on Consumer Reports List

Larry Bell — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:01:08 +0000

Toyota Camry Hybrid

The recent Consumer Reports car quality list ranked an all-electric car at the top for the first time ever. Tesla’s Model S sedan notched an almost perfect score and made automotive history in the process. Lost in much of the media coverage was the fact that Toyota’s Camry Hybrid placed fourth on the list, and was the highest-ranking hybrid among the candidates. In fact, the top ten cars on CR’s list included just one with a base price under $30,000. That honor also went to Camry Hybrid, which carries a sticker of $29,052 (the price of the model that Consumer Reports tested).

Toyota Camry Hybrid: Video

For a thorough review of the Camry Hybrid, view the short clip above. Notably positive, the reviewer offers up interesting factoids about the car. For one thing, most owners are finding they get better mileage than the listed 40/38. Camry is Toyota’s best-selling mid-sized sedan for a reason; year in and year out, Camry delivers a wealth of standard features that people want, need, and enjoy. In addition, this particular hybrid features 10 airbags on the base model, two of which are knee-airbags, one of the more high-tech safety amenities in modern automotive design.

Toyota Camry Hybrid

Technically, there was a three-way tie for fourth place in the CR rankings, with Audi’s A6 and Infiniti’s M37 joining the Camry Hybrid with statistical ratings of 93 (out of a possible score of 100). Note, however, that both the A6 and the M37 cost almost twice what Toyota’s hybrid model does. No matter how one does the math, Toyota’s Camry Hybrid provides more quality per dollar than any vehicle among the CR top ten.

Among the top three, Tesla’s Model S costs $89,650, second-ranked BMW 135i carries a price tag of $37,650, and third-place Infiniti G37 sedan is $37,225. Those three cars scored 99, 97, and 95, respectively.

http://www.toyota.com

Larry Bell

Larry Bell + is My Perfect Automobile’s Genius Author, but we call him ‘The Expert‘. Here is his full Blog: My Perfect Automobile. Larry lives in San Jose, CA and is also the Expert Author. Larry is a lover of the Automobile as well and shares a passion for Concept, Hybrid and Electric Cars…

Billy Joel: Hybrid Man

Larry Bell — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 03:59:10 +0000

Billy Joel: Interior of Prius C

Billy Joel is just one of many celebrities who own a Toyota Prius hybrid car. The list of famous folks who own the popular vehicle is getting so long, the New York Times and other major publications are taking note. Joel, of course, is a mega-star, who has been famous for almost four decades, but the recent batch of stars, starlets, pop icons, and actors keeps growing. Famous people just love the Prius.

Billy Joel: Toyota Prius Video

For a simple yet informative walk-around of a new Prius C hybrid, check out the video link below. The car made its debut at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit and was an instant hit. Already a best-seller in Japan, the C is a smaller version of Toyota’s flagship hybrid-electric entry.

Billy Joel: Hybrid Pre-Owned Cars

Now that hybrids have been around long enough to populate an active used car niche, Toyota remains the only car maker to offer a stand-alone Certified Pre-owned program for hybrids, though other hybrid makers are sure to follow. Honda has two hybrids that have been showing up on the pre-owned lots, namely the Insight and the Civic Hybrid. Although the Chevy Volt has only been around for a couple of years, the sleek hybrid from GM is already making a name for itself as a pre-owned, green vehicle.

Nissan’s all-electric Leaf has not yet appeared in the company’s pre-owned programs, but is expected to debut very soon. Those in search of luxury, pre-owned hybrids will not be disappointed. Lexus has an entire lineup of green, pre-owned cars. Both the GS 450h sedan and the RX 450h crossover are popular on the second-hand market. One of the biggest draws of the pre-owned vehicles is price. Buyers can sometimes get nearly-new hybrid cars for many thousands of dollars less than new versions.

For more about the world’s most popular hybrid car, see the official corporate website for the Toyota Prius:
http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/

Larry Bell

‘Top Green Company’ Award Goes to …

Larry Bell — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:39:57 +0000

Toyota Tundra

The second annual Best Global Green Brands report has named this year’s winner, and it turns out to be a replay of last year’s results, with the trophy going to a Japanese automaker that pioneered hybrid vehicle development, Toyota Motor Corporation. The prize recognizes companies that actually live up to their public image in the area of environmental responsibility.

Global brand consulting firm Interbrand hands out the awards each year, and noted that Toyota is at the top of its game due to expansion of the legendary Prius family of hybrid cars. Not only did they revolutionize the auto industry with the car’s introduction, according to Interbrand, but Toyota also kept going, creating more models, and even came up with a plug-in version of the wildly popular Prius.

Now, there is a smaller version of a Toyota hybrid in the European Toyota Yaris hybrid. For those who want larger cars that are still green, the company builds the luxurious Camry. Next year, the Toyota Avalon hybrid will be available in showrooms all over the world. Interbrand was also impressed with the Japanese automaker’s comprehensive efforts to make its entire manufacturing process greener. Toyota has recently instituted ongoing systems to cut carbon emissions in its factories and office buildings.

At this rate, Toyota is on target for one of the world’s first green “three-peats,” if it wins the Interbrand award again next year.

Global best-seller: Toyota Corolla

Just having a green reputation will not garner votes for the top spot. Instead, those who vie for the prize must be as green as they are perceived to be. In other words, no hypocrites allowed! It is a sad fact that numerous manufacturing and retail corporations talk the green talk. Toyota has now won this award twice in a row because they walk the walk when it comes to green efforts and practices.

For more info about the world’s greenest automaker, see their official corporate website:
http://www.toyota.com

Larry Bell

Hybrid Sales Shocker: 200 Percent Increase

Larry Bell — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:31:06 +0000

A Lexus hybrid cut-away on display

At a time when the U.S. economy is not exactly winning awards, the hybrid automotive market just keeps steaming along, breaking sales barriers every quarter and winning new converts along the way. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. reported its latest sales figures late last week, and the data was nothing short of astounding. Compared with May of 2011, overall car sales were up a whopping 72 percent.

Keep in mind that the 72 percent number is for all cars. When statistics for hybrid vehicles are broken out separately, the results are astronomical. Compared with the same period last year, Toyota’s hybrid vehicles sold 200 percent more in 2012, with a total of 29,069 hybrids sold in the most recent measuring period.

Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, Bob Carter, thanked the customers for this recent round of good news, and pointed to the success of both the Camry and Prius family of vehicles as the sales leaders for the company. Calling recent unveilings part of “the most aggressive product launch in our history,” Carter looks toward continued success from the entire lineup of Toyota’s new models. He also alluded to the overall recovery of the automotive market as one more reason that Toyota’s sales number should continue to improve.

Prius plug-in hybrid

With most of the major car makers coming out with hybrid offerings either this year or next, Toyota can take credit for initiating the trend, but at the same time will have more competitors as the decade unfolds. Already, Volvo is set to introduce a much-anticipated plug-in hybrid, which features high-end styling and a diesel rather than gasoline engine. Regardless of what its competitors do, Toyota is definitely back on track after a couple of difficult years.

For more information about Toyota’s full line of hybrid cars and trucks, and all of its environmental efforts, see the company’s official corporate website:
http://www.toyota.com/about/environment/hybrids/index.html

Larry Bell

Toyota Camry Hybrid’s Robot Assemblers

Larry Bell — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:08:25 +0000

Toyota Camry hybrid 2012

For true car fans only, here is official company footage of Toyota’s Camry hybrid being manufactured on a 100 percent robot assembly line. Yes, there was human input, and plenty of it, earlier and later in the process, but this short video segment is eerie in its non-human component. Listen as the silent machines, which never need breaks and never go on strike, whiz, whip, and whir about. It almost looks like something out of a science fiction film.

This particular facility is the Altona plant in Melbourne, Australia, where Toyota has a major presence.

Camry hybrid’s biggest competitors for the 2012 model year are the Chevy Malibu Eco, Ford’s Fusion hybrid, and the Hyundai Sonata hybrid, Toyota’s Korean rival. Camry has been at the top of the best-seller list for over a decade now, and the company is not looking to back down, even in the face of such stiff competition.

Comeback of the Camry Hybrid

The hybrid version of the car, however, is another story. Camry hybrid has struggled to maintain sales volume and media attention in the shadow of its cousin, and best-selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius. This model year holds big things, as Camry hybrid looks to take back a share of the hybrid market with better fuel economy, more power, as well as a beefed up exterior and interior design template.

This will also be the first time ever that Toyota has sold more than one trim of the Camry hybrid, with an XLE priced at $27,400 and an LE at $25,900. And while Camry is not the cheapest hybrid up for sale in the U.S., it beats its two closest competitors in fuel efficiency. Sonata and Fusion hybrids achieve 8 mpg and 2 mpg less than Camry’s 43 highway, 39 city rating.

If you put your ear close to the speaker, you might just hear the big robot say to the small one, “Hey, what time do you get off tonight? Wanna go out for a cup of transmission fluid?”

For more, see:

http://www.toyota.com

Larry Bell

Toyota Crowned Winner of Super Bowl Ads

Larry Bell — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:48:14 +0000

Still photo from a Camry commercial

In case you are one of the four people on earth who did not see the Toyota “Reinvented” commercial during the Super Bowl, check out the video link below to see the full 60-second version. No fewer than 20 online polls and informal blog surveys have crowned Toyota the king of TV ads for the year, based solely on this one spot. Ironically, the word Camry is a transliteration of the Japanese word kanmuri, which means crown, and which follows in the tradition of the automaker using foreign language versions of that word to name their cars. Corona means crown in Latin, while Corolla means small crown. That tradition started with one of the company’s early models, the Toyota Crown, in 1955.

Now, the Toyota Camry is the best selling car in North America, and the manufacturer doesn’t want us to forget that they are still trying to reinvent what is already a very good product. Green car enthusiasts have followed the trajectory of the Camry’s two hybrid models, the LE and the XLE, both of which get exceptionally high mileage, 43/39 and 40/38 respectively.

A little known fact about the company is this: The name of the founder was Toyoda, not Toyota. In late 1936 when the corporation designed a logo, the name Toyota was chosen as the official title of the firm because it sounds better to Japanese ears, with its soft, unvoiced consonant at the end of the word. Written in Japanese script, the word Toyota requires just eight brushstrokes, which is considered a lucky number in Japan. Besides, the family’s name, Toyoda, means “fertile rice paddies,” and creators of the new name wanted to avoid connection with outdated agriculture. Thus, the new circular logo, and the name Toyota, was born.

For more information about this year’s Camrys, see Toyota’s website devoted to the line, at http://www.toyota.com/camry/

Larry Bell

Toyota Camry Tops Consumer Report Picks For 2012

Larry — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:00:42 +0000

A redesigned, significantly improved Camry Hybrid has helped Toyota capture five of the 10 spots on this year’s Top Picks list. The other Toyotas that made the cut are the Prius hybrid, the Highlander and RAV4 SUVs, and the Sienna minivan. This is the first time since 2003 that one brand has so dominated the list.

This comes directly from Consumer Reports. They seem to have a good handle on what we consumers want to know about the products that we are involved with on a daily basis. If you haven’t spent enough time on our site, http://www.MyPerfectAutomobile.com, and were wanting more information about cars, then Consumer Reports is where you could find about how they are rated. Since you are now on our site, you no longer need to go anywhere else for information about the Automotive Industry. Especially the “New Automotive Technology”.

I will, however, just this one time, provide you with a link to their report. They have the full list that they have been working on and deserve the exposure. If you promise to return, you can go!

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/consumer-reports-magazine/April-2012/top-picks.html

Here is #1

Toyota Camry Hybrid

With its 2012 redesign, the Camry Hybrid jumped to the top of the family-sedan category. One eye-opener for a car of this size is its impressive 38 mpg overall fuel economy, the best in class and even better than some smaller hybrids that lack the Camry’s performance. Other high points include a comfortable ride; a roomy, quiet cabin; fairly quick acceleration; and for 2012, a nicer interior and somewhat crisper handling (although the Camry is still no sports sedan).

Price: $29,052.

Larry Judkin

Larry Judkin + is My Perfect Automobile’s General Manager, but people call him Lar’. Here is his full Blog: My Perfect Automobile. Larry lives in San Jose, CA and is also the Co-owner of My Perfect Automobile. Larry is a lover of the Automobile as well and shares a passion for Concept, Hybrid and Electric Cars…